Astronomers report in the prestigious scientific journal Nature that compounds of unexpected complexity exist throughout space.
Astronomers report in the prestigious scientific journal Nature that compounds of unexpected complexity exist throughout space. The findings suggest that complex organic compounds are not the only domain of life, but can also be formed naturally by stars.
Professor Sun Kwok and Dr. Yong Zhang from the University of Hong Kong show that organic matter found widely throughout space contains a mixture of aromatic (ring-based) and aliphatic (chain-based) components. These compounds are so complex that their chemical structures are similar to those of coal and oil.
Since coal and oil are remnants of ancient life, until now it was believed that this type of organic matter was obtained from living organisms only. The discovery of the team of researchers implies that complex organic compounds are formed in space even when there are no life forms.
The researchers examined an unexplained phenomenon: a collection of infrared radiation emissions detected in stars, interstellar space and galaxies. These spectral signatures are known as "unidentified infrared emission signatures". During the last two decades, the most accepted theory regarding the origin of these signatures claims that they arise from simple organic molecules composed of carbon and hydrogen atoms called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). From observations made by the researchers, they showed that the spectra originating from space contain characteristics that cannot be explained by PAH molecules. In contrast, the team suggests that the substances responsible for the infrared emissions originate from chemical structures that are much more complex. By examining the spectra of stardust produced in exploding stars called novae, they showed that stars produce these complex organic compounds on an extremely short timescale of a few weeks.
Not only do the stars produce this complex organic matter, they also distribute it into the interstellar space that surrounds them, i.e. - the region between the stars. The findings support an earlier idea proposed by the researcher Kwok who claims that ancient stars are molecular factories capable of producing organic compounds. "Our research demonstrates that stars have no problem producing complex organic compounds in near-vacuum conditions," the researcher points out. "Theoretically, this phenomenon is impossible, but from the observations we see that it does occur."
The most interesting thing is that organic stardust is similar in structure to complex organic compounds found in meteorites. Since meteorites are remnants of the early solar system, the findings raise the possibility that it was stars that enriched it with organic compounds. In its primeval age, Earth was exposed to multiple bombardments from comets and asteroids, which could in principle carry organic stardust. The ability of these extraterrestrial organic compounds to play a role in the development of life on Earth still remains an open research question.
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Since any organic material and it doesn't matter if it existed scattered in space or from the explosion of a star before it collapsed in on itself, there is a chance that its sprays passed close to another star and were sucked into it, this material can definitely develop into several possibilities,
Any possibility in other cases has a chance to fail or to develop into any organic connection therefore I would leave all the options open of course any organic material must be in a spatial area with a suitable temperature for its development
Great article. Understandable and interesting
In the big picture one can conclude that life has always been there. the dawn of time
And an interesting thing that can be hypothesized, and this is in the philosophical and abstract realm: when the star dies, life is "born" again, (whether it existed on the star or whether it was created from its science) and disperses in the universe until it finds the right conditions to develop.
Astral reincarnation sounds less far-fetched, but this may only be the tip of the iceberg...
Benjamin May:
This is what is called "foreseeable in retrospect".
It's easy to say it was expected after being discovered.
Your claim about the simple and the complex is not justified.
Life could, in principle, be created from another "simple".
After all, according to the same logic, you could argue that bones are simpler than a complete living thing and therefore they were before life.
The processes by which the organic matter is formed in space are not yet known, while the process of "decay" of organisms into fossil fuels is known and understood, therefore the thought that fossil fuels are the remains of organisms is similar, in the degree of its logic, to the conclusion that bones are the remains of organisms.
Despite the new discovery, the hypothesis that the origin of oil on Earth is in living things remains more logical (although it is not certain, nor was it certain in the past) and you are welcome to read the chapter Formation in the relevant Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum
The expected.
If life was created from organic compounds
relative complexity (which in turn were created from elements
Individuals), it is clear that the same elements
are in space and have undergone physical processes
Many and varied in the cores of the stars and under great pressure.
This is why I am skeptical about
All oil sources seem to have been created from death
simple organisms. Logic says
that evolution works the other way around: before it was
The simple and then the more complex,
Organic chains like in oil more
Simplicity from the simplest organism
And I don't know of any evidence that it isn't
could have been created in independent processes.